This invention is concerned with providing a selectively movable seed cell knife for fruit processing machines of the type shown in patent application to Loveland for "Machine for Seed Celling Previously Cored Apples", Ser. No. 283,919, filed Aug. 25, 1972, and now U.S. Pat. No. 3,831,510 issued Aug. 27, 1974. As shown there, previously cored apples are fed in bulk to the machine wherein they are oriented, utilizing the core hole in the apple, following which they are transferred from the orienting mechanism onto a spindle, taking advantage of the alignment provided by the core hole. After transfer, the apples are moved to a station where they are cut to remove the fibrous carpel material surrounding the seeds together with the seeds. Following this operation, the apples are cut into segments as desired.
On the Loveland machine, the seed celling operation is performed by a pair of overlapping loop-shaped seed cell knives rigidly mounted on the spindle. When the knives are rotated, they cut a cavity around the seed cell, with the size of the cavity being the same in each apple. Since various sizes of apples are accommodated by the machine, the size of the cavity is either determined by the largest sized apple anticipated, or by some nominal size chosen. Thus, either oversize cavities are cut in small apples or some of the seed cell will not be removed from large apples, depending on the knife size chosen. This in turn leads to considerable waste or an inferior product.